Tilda Swinton is the latest high-profile industry figure to throw their support behind a campaign to save Edinburgh’s Filmhouse Cinema as reports suggest the popular rep house is close to being bought by a hospitality business.
In a rare public statement handed to Deadline, Swinton, who lives in Nairn, Scotland, described Filmhouse Cinema as an “invaluable cultural resource” for the city of Edinburgh that deserves to be “in the hands of legitimate cineastes who will nurture its future and the legacy of cultural cinema in Edinburgh and beyond.” “This is an opportunity for all of us to join together to put a flag on the field: culture matters in Scotland.
Let’s make it so,” she said in the statement, adding that any potential sale of the cinema to a private owner must be conducted with “unequivocal transparency.” Edinburgh Filmhouse first closed its doors last October alongside Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen, Northern Scotland, when the trustees in charge of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), the charity which operated both sites along with the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), appointed administrators.
A statement from the CMI at the time said a “perfect storm” of rising costs and falling admissions numbers due to the pandemic had been exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis.
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